Alert devices exist in a variety of settings to inform people of emergency conditions, weather conditions, and any other information relevant to the users of the alert device. These alert devices typically include visible and/or audible alert components that are activated in response to a particular event (i.e., a received signal such as an alert notification). For example, a typical smoke detector sounds a loud alarm when it receives a signal from a sensor, the signal indicating that smoke from a fire may be detected at or around the smoke detector. In another example, a typical fire alarm sounds a loud alarm and activates a bright strobe light when it receives a signal from a fire detection network indicating that someone has triggered another fire alarm within the network. In yet another example, a typical weather radio receiver plays an alarm tone and displays a message on a text display when it receives a radio signal on a frequency reserved for emergency weather alerts. The latter two examples above depict alert devices connected to receive alert signals from remote sources, either through a wired communications channel (i.e., in the example of the fire alarm) or through a wireless communications channel (i.e., in the example of the weather radio receiver).
Alert devices typically function to alert people of a particular type of situation. Accordingly, they are configured to emit sounds and activate lights at intensities and patterns appropriate to their function. Continuing the above example of the fire alarm, the fire alarm activates bright lights and a loud siren to inform people that a potentially life-threatening situation (i.e., a fire) exists. Upon hearing the siren and/or seeing the lights, people are trained to know that they should seek safety by staying low to avoid smoke inhalation and trying to evacuate. The response of people to the fire alarm, however, would not be appropriate in all emergency situations. That is, the fire alarm, if used to indicate an emergency situation other than a fire may result in confusion, panic, injury, or death. For example, if the fire alarm were to be activated when a tornado is approaching, people evacuating in response to the alert would be potentially putting themselves in a life-threatening situation, rather than avoiding one. Thus, for safety reasons, the fire alarm in the above example is useful only to alert people of a potential fire. As discussed above, many different types of alert situations can be indicated by different alert devices. It would be inefficient and impractical, however, to administer separate alert devices for each type of alert situation.
In order to efficiently and effectively convey alerts of differing types, an alert device capable of customizing its visible and/or audible outputs based on a received alert signal is needed. One alert device that changes its alerting technique based on alert messages that it receives is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,867,688 (the '688 patent) issued to Lamb on Mar. 15, 2005. The '688 patent discloses an alert device having a receiver for receiving digital messages from a transmission tower providing cellular, PCS, or wireless telecommunications, a microcomputer with a monitoring circuit that monitors received digital messages, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a high-level audio speaker, a low-level audio speaker, a high-intensity strobe light, and a low-intensity light emitting diode (LED). The monitoring circuit monitors a digital control channel via the receiver until an alert message is received. When an alert message is received, the monitoring circuit decodes the alert message, which includes an 8-bit alert code and a text message string. The alert code indicates a level of severity of the alert message. Based on the alert code, the microcomputer chooses either a high-level alarm routine or a low-level alarm routine, each of which is preloaded in a non-volatile program memory of the microcomputer. More specifically, if the alert code equals five, then it indicates a “Level One” alert and the alert device executes the high-level alarm routine. If the alert code equals six, then it indicates a “Level Two” alert and the alert device executes the low-level alarm routine. The high-level alarm routine produces a high-decibel level tone on the high-level audio speaker, flashes the high-intensity strobe light, and displays the text message string on the LCD. In contrast, the low-level alarm routine produces a low-decibel level tone on the low-level audio speaker, flashes the low-intensity LED, and displays the text message string on the LCD. Both alert routines continue to run for a pre-determined amount of time or until a reset button is pressed, whichever occurs first. By executing one of the two alarm routines based on the alert code of a given alert message, the alert device of the '688 patent can provide a different alerting technique for alert messages having different alert codes corresponding to different severities. In particular, the high-level alarm routine is executed when the alert code indicates the existence of an emergency situation, while the low-level alarm routine is executed when the alert code indicates the possibility of an emergency situation. The device also provides the ability to signal the activation of an external device in response to the alert level. That is, if the alert level exceeds a level programmed on or stored by the alert device, the alert device signals the activation of the external device.
While the alert device of the '688 patent may choose one of two different alert techniques, each stored in the alert device's non-volatile memory, its application may be limited. More specifically, because the alert device of the '688 patent has only two pre-defined alert techniques corresponding to an alert code of each received alert message, the alert device may lack sufficient flexibility for the wide variety of emergency and non-emergency situations presented to organizations with large campuses. That is, because the two alert techniques are directly correlated to a severity (i.e., alert level) of the alert message, the alert techniques cannot be modified for a given emergency or non-emergency situation. In order to change the alert techniques (i.e., the type and duration of visible and audible alerts, and/or the duration of the displayed message text), the alert device may have to be reprogrammed by a professional, which could be inconvenient, costly, and/or impractical.
The alert device of the '688 patent may be further limited by the inflexibility of the alert routines it employs. More specifically, because the alert device of the '688 patent may employ exactly one audible alerting action (i.e., activating the high-level alarm in a static way or activating the low-level alarm in a static way) and exactly one visible alerting action (i.e., activating the high-intensity strobe light in a static way or activating the low-intensity LED in a static way) in response to each received alert message, it may not be operable to both attract the attention of a group of people and effectively convey information about the indicated alert situation. For example, while the high-level alarm routine is executed, the high-decibel level tone on the high-level audio speaker and high-intensity strobe light may deter or inhibit people from approaching the alert device to read the text message string. That is, people may not be effectively notified of the type of emergency situation, actions that should be taken, etc.
The alert device of the '688 patent may be further still limited by its style of interoperability with other devices. More specifically, while the alert device of the '688 patent may interface with external devices, the decision to activate a given external device is made by the alert device based on the alert level of a received alert message. As a result, a dispatcher of an alert message cannot choose to activate specific external devices on a case-by-case basis. That is, the external device is activated in response to a metric of the alert message (i.e., the alert level) rather than an instruction included in the alert message. It may be desirable for a particular external device to be activated for some alert messages of a given severity, but not for others of the same severity. For example, the external device may be a loud speaker connected to play a recorded message instructing people to evacuate a building. While it may be desirable to activate the recorded message in the event of a fire, it may be undesirable to activate the recorded message in the event of a tornado, since evacuation during a tornado would potentially put people in harm's way. However, the alert message sent in the event of the fire and the alert message sent in the event of the tornado may both have the same alert level (i.e., “Level One”).
The alert device of the '688 patent may be further yet limited by its method of deactivation. More specifically, because the chosen alert routine may be executed until the first of a pre-determined amount of time elapsing or someone pressing a reset button, the alert routine may end prematurely or not last as long as the dispatcher desires. That is, the pre-determined amount of time may be too short for some alert situations (i.e., a dangerous hurricane condition that persists longer than the pre-determined amount of time), while the reset button may be pressed by anyone with physical access to the device, thus ending the alert routine prematurely. In the case of a dangerous hurricane condition, ending the alert routine prematurely may cause some people to miss the alert entirely, again potentially putting people in harm's way.
The alert device and method of the present disclosure are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.